If the nebulous and ill-defined concept began on June 16, 2015, when then-reality TV star Donald Trump rode down an escalator at New York City's Trump Tower and declared himself a candidate for president of these United States, it might be fair to say that Trumpism, at least as we've known it since that fateful day, was severely wounded on Tuesday.

For it was then that Democrats cleaned up - and then some - in governors' races in Virginia and New Jersey, and rode a wildly successful wave in Virginia's legislative contests.

In Virginia, Republican candidate Ed Gillespie had been running an increasingly Trump-like campaign of late, focusing on immigration, on Confederate monuments, on crime. And he got his political head handed to him by low-key, moderate Democrat Ralph Northam, the state's lieutenant governor, who bested the Trump-backed Gillespie by 54-45 percent margin.

What's more, Democrats across the commonwealth went to town in legislative races, winning more seats in the House of Delegates than most anyone on the Democratic side had hoped, or even thought possible.

A day before the one-year anniversary of Trump's shocking victory over Democrat Hillary Clinton, the nation's oldest political party showed that it is once again on the rise. Expect great enthusiasm from Democrats going forward.

Do Democrats now have the wind at their backs heading into next year's congressional midterm elections? To a degree, to be sure. They are doubtless feeling buoyed by Tuesday's news from Virginia. And what happened in New Jersey didn't hurt, either. There, Phil Murphy, a onetime Wall Street banker turned progressive Democrat, easily bested Republican Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno in a race to succeed term-limited Gov. Chris Christie, who leaves office only slightly more popular than gingivitis. (Remember when Christie actually believed that he had a chance of being elected president? Seems so long ago, doesn't it? It was just last year.)

None of this is to suggest that Democrats suddenly have an easy path forward across the land. They do not. Not even close.

Their party, too, is badly divided and sags in public opinion polls. There's a war between the party establishment and the so-called progressive wing - the pie-in-the sky economically challenged socialist set embodied by their hero, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders. Though a member of that club had tried to win the nomination for governor in Virginia, after losing, he campaigned solidly for Northam in the general election.

Will that serve as a winning model for Democrats in elections ahead? If only it were so easy. Don't expect the Berniecrats to cede control to the establishment or to roll over and play dead anytime soon.

But all of that ought to be able to be set aside for the moment, while Democrats bask in the glory of their stirring Tuesday wins.

And it may only get better soon enough, when all the votes have been counted, and recounted, Democrats have a real opportunity to emerge holding the majority in Virginia's House of Delegates. If that should happen, and with one of their own in the governor's office, they'll have all the power when it comes to redistricting after the next federal census.

Going forward, it wouldn't be at all surprising to see an increasing number of Republican members of the U.S. Congress deciding to pack it in, even as more and more Democratic hopefuls consider running for those open seats.

Trumpism lost - big league - on Tuesday night. Don't be surprised to find many folks looking to put a stake in its heart for once and for all next year.